1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an illumination controlling device for a vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
JP-A-6-318050 describes an illumination controlling system for a vehicle. The system controls a luminance of a meter of the vehicle stepwise in accordance with an operation of an operating portion.
In such a system, the luminance of the meter has plural luminance phases. An occupant of the vehicle can suitably change the luminance by operating the operating portion.
Generally, an air-conditioner, an audio instrument or a shift lever has a lighting to be turned on/off based on an operation of a switch such as a light switch. A luminance of the lighting is controlled stepwise in accordance with the operation of the operating portion.
In a case where the luminance of the lighting is controlled stepwise with the same operating portion as the luminance of the meter while the lighting is lighted up, the number of the luminance phases is set the same between the lighting and the meter. If the luminance becomes different between the lighting and the meter, the occupant of the vehicle may feel strange. Therefore, the luminance is required to be set approximately the same between the lighting and the meter.
However, it is not necessary to change the luminance of the lighting while the lighting is not illuminated. Therefore, in a case where only the luminance of the meter is changed while the lighting is not lighted up, the occupant may feel strange when the lighting is activated, because the luminance of the meter is different from the luminance of the lighting.